


Secret Hollows

by cgreene



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Erotica, F/M, Friendship/Love, Romance, Romantic Friendship, sensual
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2018-05-02 17:18:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5257010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cgreene/pseuds/cgreene
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gale and Katniss reconnect after the Games and realize their true feelings for one another.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kindle

Kindle

.

The shadows grow long and Gale and I wordlessly agree to head back to town. We can still do that, even after all that's happened. My eyes dart up to his and he nods, reaching out to take my bow and hiding it in one of our secret hollows, a place where we keep important things hidden. I trail close behind him as we walk back, not saying much, not sure what to say, if there's anything to say. When I first saw him, I hugged him and cried, and he held me. I'm not if that answered questions or raised more. I think I should say something, though, try to tell him how much I thought about him, how much I still think of him. I've almost reached out to grab his hand when I hear the dog howl.

_Mutt!_  I think, I maybe scream, turning in terror, waiting for one with human eyes to attack me. I instinctively run back towards my weapons, but it catches me before I get there.

"No," I scream, violently kicking, tearing at the monster's face. "Get off of me, get off!" I'm back on my feet and running when I hear my name.

"Katniss! Wait, please, Katniss!" I turn around. It's Gale. Not a mutt. I think this, but don't believe it at first. I close my eyes and then look again. It's Gale.

He doesn't have the face of a mutt, but he does have the face of something. I see it crossed with confusion, concern, maybe alarm. He's walking slowly towards me, speaking softly, arms held open, as a sign of peace. I notice a scratch on his face. A scratch I must have caused. I can't help but twitch and look away. Maybe I'm the monster.

"Katniss, hey, it's okay, will you look at me." He's close now, arms still out, gently moving in, trying not to scare me. I need to say  _I'm sorry_ , but I can't choke the words out. Gale hasn't seen me like this yet, I've tried to hide it from him, not wanting to burden him with one more of my problems after he's done so much. I keep trying, but I fall into his arms, gasping, pulling him down with me. He takes me into his arms and rocks me gently. I keep trying to say I'm sorry but it catches in my sobs, and I bury my face in his chest and listen to his heart until its steady rhythm brings me back to the world.

It's dark out when I come to. Gale's still holding me and I don't know how long we've been like this. I jerk alert and pull out of his arms.

"Wha…what…"

"Hey, it's okay," he says with that same, smooth voice, "Katniss," his voice draws my eyes into his.

"Oh, I'm…I'm sorry." I look away, ashamed. "We should, we should get back," I push myself up trying to distance myself from the whole matter.

But Gale grabs my hand and stops me. "Catnip," there's more than a question written on his face.

"We need to get back, Gale."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I don't answer and start walking.

As if our bodies were connected by some invisible force, he behind me in an instant, we move in line.

"Catnip, hey," he grabs for me again, I jerk away and then apologize. "You said it wasn't that bad."

"It's not."

"It doesn't look that way to me."

"I didn't want…" I can feel myself slipping again, and I take a deep breath to reclaim myself. "I didn't want to bother you. You've done enough." I look him in the eyes resolutely and squeeze his hand.

"I can do more," I know he means it, though I don't know how it's possible. He took care of my family the whole time I was away, on top of his, and now he works six days in the mines...

"You shouldn't have to," I tell him. I mean it as well. I hear him sigh, deeply, though I don't know why as we start walking back to the fence. Gale takes my hand and guides me through the fence and even walks me to my home, even though Victor's Village is past his house and he'll have to double back to get home. I tell him it's unnecessary. He looks at me like he doesn't believe it. I then tell him he doesn't have to.

"I know," he says with the faintest of smiles, "but I want to."

For the first time, in a long time, I want to smile too.

. .

Gale has to work in the mines the next day, so I'm surprised to see him at my door.

"Hey, Catnip."

"Hi," I'm silent longer than I should be. "What do you want?" I'm ruder than I should be too. But he only laughs.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Oh," I say, and stand back so he can see me. That seems to be the best answer I can give. "Do you want to come in?" I finally ask, moving aside as he does.

I show him around the house, and he pretends to care about all the nice new things much the same way I do, and we end up in my room. He sits across from me and looks at me with eyes like clouds and light.

He comes back the next day and does it again, and the next, and before I know it, we're talking. Or I'm talking, telling him things, moments at first, and then everything, and he stays and listens until I fall asleep. I don't know if I dream it, but I feel a soft kiss on my forehead each time before he leaves.

. . .

That next Sunday, we're out in the woods, and I'm determined to be my old self. I'm not only determined, but I'm able, and I think to tell Gale he was right, that talking about it really did help, but I figure, he already knows. He always knows.

We meet at our usual spot and I bring him and orange and some bread which we share before our hunt. Gale grabs our weapons from the secret spot and we head out.

The day is clear and bright, and though it's not quite warm, there's a noticeable absence of cold. Gale and I make a good haul that day. His snares hold two rabbits, I get three squirrels and he shoots one too. The bow feels right in my hand again and I think I smile for the first time when I shoot.

Gale collects the killings and throws them in his bag and takes our weapons again and hides them in a hollow tree. I find myself wishing I had a safe place to hide everything dear to me, a safe place to hide him, because the chambers of my heart aren't safe enough. As we head home, I consider asking him if he'll stop by after work this week too, but I don't want to impose. Before we head through the fence, our eyes catch. No, they don't catch, they lock, and as I look into them, there's more than a question on my lips, there's a want. I'm trying to figure out what I want when Gale leans into to kiss me.

His lips are warm and soft and he tastes like oranges and I don't know if I like it or what it means, but I know I don't want it to stop.

"Sorry," he says, and I don't know why, "I just, I had to do that, at least once."

. . . .

There's nothing for me to do on Monday, no need for me to hunt, nothing for me to clean, and I find myself remembering the taste of orange and wondering whether Gale will come by after work. It's the first time in a long time that my mornings aren't preoccupied with worrying about the Games, and I'm not actually sure if this worry is any better. But as the evening starts to set in, I decide I can't wait anymore. Ill go crazy, or crazier. I throw together a basket of food and head to the Hawthorne's house.

"Oh, Katniss, hello," Gale's mother says, surprised to see me.

"Hi Mrs. Hawthorne. I came by," I find myself peering behind her to see if Gale is home, "I brought by some food for you guys."

"Oh, thank you," she says, eyes genuinely widened by surprise as she opens to see a few loaves of fresh bread, a jar of jam, and two rolls of seasoned meat. "Katniss, this is…"

I wonder if she's about to say too much.

"This is so nice of you."

I wonder if there's anything I could do that Hazelle would consider  _too much_.

I smile. "It's the least I could do. I mean, after everything Gale did…"

Hazelle looks at me as if to say she knows very well everything Gale did, and I think I'm going to have to bring her several more baskets. But I don't mind.

"He's not home from the mines yet," she says and I wonder for the first time in my life if I'm being transparent. "But he'll appreciate this, I'm sure."

"Oh, right." I say. I don't know why. "The jam's strawberry."

"I can see that, dear, thank you. I'm sure it's wonderful."

"Do you like strawberry?" I don't know what I say that either.

"I love strawberry."

"Does Gale like strawberry?"

"Gale like food," she says with a small smile.

"What about the boys? And Posy?" Now she's looking at me curiously.

"We all like strawberry, Katniss." I'm not sure if she's annoyed or concerned.

"I can get you something else, you know, if you'd prefer. Like raspberry, or blackberry. They probably even have stuff that's not berry..."

"Honestly, Katniss, this is lovely. Would you like to come in?" she's concerned, not annoyed. I'm not sure which is worse. "Can I make you some tea?"

I'm inclined to say no, but I don't and after a few moments I realize Gale's mom is still looking at me and I mustn't have said anything at all. She finally takes my arm gently and guides me inside. She's still making tea when the door opens and Gale walks in. He greets his mom and kisses her on the cheek. I see her take his arm and alert him to my presence. I can't hear what she says, but he looks over at me.

"Hey Catnip," he says, sitting next to me and setting down two cups of tea.

"I brought jam," I say, as if that explains everything.

"I heard," his mother must have expressed her concern, "strawberry," he says with a smile.

"Do you like strawberry?"

"Catnip, what's wrong?"

"I didn't know if you'd come see me."

"Did you want me to?" Gale seems surprised.

"Yes."

"Oh, I didn't know if you would…after yesterday." He looks away and I wonder if it's with regret or shame.

"Do you regret it?" I ask.

"What? No. Katniss, of course not. I just…"

"What?"

"I didn't know if you wanted me to."

"Oh."

"Did you?"

"No," I say immediately, and he looks at me as if he'd prepared himself to hear that. "But I never thought about it," I add, trying to make it better. I'm not sure I did, so I continue, "But now I have."

Gale arches his eyebrow as if to say,  _and?_

"And now that I have," I smile, "I want you to do it again."

I think Gale has to stop himself from kissing me right there in front of his mother. Instead of forming a kiss, his lips form a smile. He quickly calls to his mother, "Hey, mom, I'm going to walk Katniss home."

She surveys us both suspiciously, "okay," she says with a resignation that knows there's not use saying anything to Gale when it comes to me.

He takes me by the hand and we walk to the door. I feel the need to say something to her. "I'm sorry about the tea," what I mean is, that she made it and I didn't drink it, but she doesn't seem to understand. "I'll bring you more," I promise as we head out the door.

As soon as we're outside, Gale holds me by the side of his house and kisses me. This time I reach up for him and kiss back. It's strange, but this time I almost expected him to taste of strawberries.

.

 


	2. Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> note - a few lines from here I picked from Catching Fire, the line about his beautiful, capable fingers, and when Katniss things about how she should have known all there was to know about Gale's lips. To me, this is proof she really did like Gale, at least his lips and his hands, so here she is enjoying them a bit.

 

Light

. . . . .

"Wait, Gale," I finally say, "we need to be careful." I look around.

"I know," he sighs with a deep breath, leaning his head against mine, taking my chin in his hand, but he leans in and kisses me again. It's like he's pulling my breath out of me and putting it in to me at the same time.

"Gale," I smile, I put my finger to his lips this time. He even kisses it softly. "Gale," my voice sounds less determined now. I like how he's kissing my finger. I never thought I'd like kisses on my fingers. "Really, Gale," I look up to him, eyes pleading for I don't know what.

"I know," he says in a voice that shows he's in control of himself again. He exhales again and takes my hand in his hand this time and leads me home.

We quietly enter and go up to my room. Once I've safely shut the door I fall into him, on top of him, around him-I could use almost any preposition. Gale holds my face in his hands and lets his lips slide over me, each kiss taking a piece of me with him and giving me something back—something hot and alive. How can feeling so warm make me want to shiver? I don't know how that's possible.

You'd think that after all the hours I'd spent with Gale—watching him talk and laugh and frown—that I would know everything there was to know about his lips. It turns out, I didn't know a thing. They were warm and soft and delicate and strong, and they kiss my lips and neck and ears—I never thought I'd want someone to kiss my ears before or that I'd like it. It turns out, I do.

"Oh, Katniss," he says my name like he never has before, in a way that somehow pulls me into him. Another thing I learn his lips can do.

"Why didn't you ever do this before?" I ask him, I almost accuse him as I'm straddling him, my legs across his, his hands at my back, my waist, mine on his shoulders, his arms, his cheeks.

"Because you didn't want me to, remember?" He chuckles softly, holding my face. I look deep into his eyes and know he's right.

"Well, I didn't know it'd feel like this," I confess, wishing I had. I lean in and kiss him softly. His kiss seems like he's trying to hold on to me, but he lets me pull away and holds me tightly as I lie on his chest and listen to the strong beat of his heart.

I'm not sure at first if I want the sound to drown out my thoughts or if I want to let them in.

"Are you okay?" he asks, rubbing me slightly with his arm.

I nod my face across his chest and am not sure what to say. "I thought about you, a lot, in the Games," I say. "If it matters…"

"Of course it matters," he says, holding me tighter.

"Are you going to leave?" I ask, trying not to sound desperate.

He lifts my face up to his eyes and looks at me seriously. "You know I have to be at the mines in the morning," he says almost apologetically, "but I'll stay as long as you want until then."

I nod as if I understand and nuzzle myself closer as he holds me tighter and I wonder how much time we have until light.

. . . .

When I wake up, light streams into my room and I feel rested, though I startle for a second when I realize Gale was here and again now that he's gone. But I know he's working in the mines. He must not have woken me at all when he left, and I imagine him silently stealing away and slipping through the town, walking like a shadow in the dark.

I hear my mother downstairs so I go to shower to avoid her and I don't come out of the bathroom until the house is quiet. I go into the kitchen and am glad it's empty. I make myself some food before heading out. There's nowhere I have to be, nothing I have to do, so I find myself in the woods.

I've done my best all morning not to think of Gale. What I mean is, not to think about what Gale means, or more specifically, what kissing Gale means. Instead, I focus on how the kisses felt, and how I liked them, and how I want more. I think about his hands also, his beautiful, capable fingers, scarred, but strong and skilled and safe. Hands I want to hold me. Hands I want to have me. The only hands, I think, that can help me. I think of moments, memories, and not one bit about what any of it means. Because I don't know what any of it means, and trying to figure that out will only lead me to thinking about how it will all get messed up. I force every other name out of my brain but his and just think about how I want Gale with me to make everything feel not only right but  _good._

. . .

I'm already in bed, having insisted that I was too tired to get out of dinner with my family, when I hear the knock at the door and my mother and Prim friendly greet him. There's warmth and laughter sounded from the downstairs, and I realize how close they all must have gotten while I was gone. I'm almost tempted to get out of bed and peek when I hear Gale ascend the stairs. He rasps softly on the door and pushes it open.

"Hey," I say, suddenly realized I'm shrouded in the dark.

"Hey, Catnip," he sits beside me on the bed and I get up and curl next to him. He wraps his arm around me and I take one of his hands tightly in mine and he kisses me on my head. "What were you up to today?"

"Thinking."

Soft laughter rattles in him. "You make it sound like that was more exhausting than what I did."

I want to tell him it was, but I stop myself, though I think he figures it out anyway. His hands are caressing my face and he looks at me and I want him to kiss me and take me away from all this, but he holds me instead. I cling to him for a few moments as he strokes me and I can hear his heart beating, his lungs breathing, and I can almost hear his mind thinking, and I want him to stop, so I reach up and kiss him, trying to pull him into me the way he pulled me into him. He kisses me, but breaks away. I should have known I wouldn't be able to do that—or that he wouldn't want to come in.

"Come on, Gale, kiss me, please," I lean in let our lips brush, "help me—"

"Help you what?"

I don't know what to say. "Don't you want this?"

"That depends on what this is."

I guess he spent today thinking also. "What do you mean?" I ask.

"Katniss," his hand cups my face again, "I don't want...I don't want to take advantage of you."

I have to stop myself from laughing.  _Take advantage of me?_ I don't even know what that means any more.

"I just," he says, kissing me softly and leaning his head to mine. I can feel his breath and tell he's struggling to hold something it. "I've wanted this for a long time, and I don't…"

I take his face in my hands this time, and look at him. There's hardly any space between us, only inches, though it's also an entire, unwritten world—one we could chart and conquer or maybe get lost in. I wonder if that's what he's afraid of.

"Are you trying to ask me where this will lead? What this will become?"

He doesn't answer, but he might as well have. All the names that I forced out of my brain earlier today are now in his. I watch him wrestle with them, juggle them, try to carry them all. He shouldn't have to.

"Gale," I say, and I say again until he's focused on me and lets everything else fade away. I entwine my hands in his and bring it up to my mouth, kissing each knuckle and nail. "You know I'm complicated." He laughs, and I smile as I take his other hand. "And it's complicated. It's all very complicated."

He sighs, and I know that means he hates it, that means he'd do anything he could to undo it, to make it right. But he can't. I know it, and he does too. I think he hates that more.

I take his face in my hands now and gently kiss it. His forehead, his nose, his cheeks, his chin.

"But I want you. I want this. I like it and I need it and I love you." He seems almost surprised that I said it. But I mean, I do, and I think he believes me.

"I love you too," he says, finally letting himself go. I can feel the composure, the control seep from his body, like a chord has been cut, he moves freer now, more fluid. He takes me in his strong arms and turns me, pulling me beneath him as he gently positions himself next to me.

"I know," I saw, almost with a small laugh.

He smiles too and shakes his head, his nose almost rubbing mine as he does.

We're kissing and touching, all hot breath, fingertips and skin. I've climbed on top of Gale, almost sitting on him, my hands tight on his shoulders and soft on his face, trying to take all of him in. Gale's lips have trailed form my mouth and down my neck, each one like a splash, or a sizzle, and I somehow imagine both water and fire, and while they should cancel each out, they combine and build into one another.

His hands have roamed across my back and settle at my hips, and I can tell he's not sure what to do with them, not letting them roam freely. They dance around the top of my pants, the skirt of my shirt.

"You can take it off," I say in a heady voice as I go in to nibble at his ear.

It turns out Gale likes his ears nibbled. I feel him shiver beneath me. It takes a moment for him to find himself, and I smile, liking this power I have over him.

"Oh, god, Katniss," he breaths. He grabs my face and kisses me almost fiercely, wildly lost for a few moments until he finds his way out of that urge, "Katniss," he says again, this time a bit more slowly, a bit more aware. I smile as I look down at him. "Do you want me to?" he finally says, his voice almost normal.

"What?"

"You said if I want to. But do you want me to?"

I see what he's getting at now. Instead of saying anything, I lift myself up and throw my shirt off. I'm glad I pulled myself away so I could savor the look on Gale's face. I'd never thought about it before, but I think I've turned him on.

I know I've turned him on. He pulls himself out from under me and now we're both now sitting upwards in my bed. He looks at my like he's seeing me for the first time. His first touch is gently, tracing the line of my collar bone, trailing down my ribs, teetering at my hips, and turning back up across my stomach. He stops at my bra, and looks at me for permission. I nod desperately for him to take it off and he does. He smiles and moves in to kiss me, taking one of my nipples in his mouth. His other hand quickly finds my other breast, and he lets out a sound of deep satisfaction as he holds it, squeezing it slightly, as if introducing himself. Meanwhile, his tongue is flicking across my other nipple, and I wonder how this could be feeling any better for him than it is for me. My fingers run though his hair, and I have to be careful not to press him to tightly too me.

Once he's gotten to know my breasts, he hooks me with is arm and lays me down. I smile, looking up at him, and bit my lip as I tug the tail of his shirt, which is still unfairly on. Gale smiles and nods, as if conceding to my point and quickly rips his shirt off. I reach up slowly with a tentative finger, almost afraid to touch. I don't know why I imagine this skin will feel any different than his hands of face or arms. I trace the muscles on his chest, more defined that the last time I saw them, some summer ago when we were by a creek, I guess from working in the mines. His chest is too, as are his shoulders and arms, all stronger, harder. I wonder how he can be so soft with me.

I don't know how long I study his body, but my eyes finally go up to his eyes, and I bit my lip, as I seeing how patiently, yet desperately, he gave me my moment. I reach up for his face and he comes quickly down to me, out lips working frantically on the other.

Gale runs one of his hands up my arms, pulling one above my head and then back down to my breasts. His touch is so soft—I barely feel it on the top of my skin. I'm not even sure when he's touching me, yet somehow, I also feel it somewhere deep within me. Some secret space in my body I never knew existed before, a space I want to name after him.

His lips soon follow his hands, and again, my skin falls with sizzles and splashes, and I finally see how the fire and the water go together—to make steam. I can almost feel it rising off of me. I'd swear I could see it if I opened my eyes, mixing with our breath, coming in and out of us until we're all lost in this haze.

I'm already lost in it, I think—boundaries disappear and things all fade into one another. It's all breath and bodies. I'm not sure where Gale is touching me, only that he is, and my fingers are feeling his hair and the hard lines of his body.

"Katniss," he calls my name, both a suspiration and an invocation, making me look up at him. "Katniss," he says again, guiding me back from the field of sensation. I reach out to him, and his cups my hand against his face and smiles. "Katniss," he says again, almost as if it's difficult, "how much do…how far do you want to go?"

_Oh, I hadn't thought about that_ , and I think he sees that on my face. My eyes run from his face down to his chiseled chest and then to his belt and then below, and I suddenly see something I've never seen before, or never noticed at least, and somehow I know what that means even though I never recall learning about it.

"I think I'm ready," I tell him, eyes back to his.

"You think?" he says softly, and I nod. He smiles and exhales, giving himself a moment. He takes my hand, still in his, and brings it to his mouth and kisses it softly. "Why don't we wait until you know so, okay?"

I turn, looking at him like I don't quite understand. I'm not sure if I'm angry or thankful.

He scoots off of me gently and lies down next to me, kissing my shoulder and folding me into him. His arm drapes across my chest, bringing my back tightly to his chest, and he pulls the hair off of my ear and kisses it softly while one of his hands dances across my chest, stirring up sensation on my skin, in my stomach. I finally turn to face him. I am thankful.

I lean in and kiss him, our lips hot and heavy and soft at the same time. I then pull myself to his chest and nuzzle, as I could tuck myself into the space between us and disappear.

"You should probably get to sleep soon…since you have to work in the morning?"

He huffs and looks like nothing is less important to him in the world.

"Wake me up before you go?" I can tell he doesn't understand why I want him to, his natural instinct being to let me sleep. "Promise you will?" I say, shaking him slightly as if show the importance.

"Yeah, of course." He tilts my chin to him and kisses me again, deeply and completely.

He then pulls me on him, and our legs and other limbs entangle, his thumb brushing across my arm and my fingers tracing circles on his chest as we both fall asleep.

. .

I feel Gale move and open my eyes to see the shadows only slightly muted in the faint pre-dawn light.

"I've got to go," he says, crouching next to me, one hand stroking my cheek and the other in my hair.

"Did you get enough sleep?" I ask as if it mattered.

He leans in and kisses me and his mouth is wet and hot.

"I'll be back tonight, okay?"

I nod, trying to hold his breath in me as he leaves.

.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hello All! Please let me know if you liked that! Or if you didn't! Any feedback helps me write...and I'll be honest, I have no idea what I'm writing here, so I'd love to hear not only what you thought of this, but what you'd like to see if you'd like me to go further with this. I'm not very good at the sexy-romance, and this whole thing is an intellectual exercise for me, and I just hope I'm getting things right that you all like. So please let me know, because if I'm left to my own devices, things tend to get dark and tragic quick, and I'm trying to keep the Capitol plot and Peeta a bay here.


	3. Spark

Spark

* * *

 

.

My day too long with waiting, Gale's with working, but we're back together at night.

. .

"I just want to hold you, okay?" He says, falling on his knees by the side of my, and taking me in his arms, and burying his face in my lap. I wrap my legs and arms around him, running my fingers through his hair, swirling them slightly, and pulling, as if I could also touch his thoughts. He lets out a deep sigh, draining exhaustion and frustration from the day, but as my hands slide across his shoulders, I can tell it didn't work. He's still tense.

"I just want to hold you…" he says again, pulling me closer, and kissing my thigh. The way he holds me, I think this might be a _need_ more than a want.

"That's all you want to do?" I ask playfully, tugging at his hair a little bit. I hear him laugh, and he kisses my stomach as he brings his head up to look at me. "Are you okay?" I take his face in my hands and force him to look at me.

"I am now," he says, taking one of my hands in his and kissing it.

But I can feel all the mess of emotions catching in him, I can see him struggle to keep it down. I wrap my legs around him and pull him close to me, as if I could somehow wrap my whole body around him and keep him safe. But I know I can't really do that. And even if I could, Gale doesn't need me to. In another moment, he seems to have subdued whatever was fighting at him.

"I missed you," he says through kisses that have progressed from my hand up my arm. His lips are warm, though a bit rough, and gentle. By the time he's reached up my arm, he moves to pull my shirt off and out of the way, quickly and desperately, like it were an obstacle in a race. My bra comes off in one fluid flash, and he moves to recline me on my bed, bending down to kiss my stomach and then my breasts, his hands swim up my sides. "Oh, Katniss," he says again.

I let my hands run over him, over his shoulders which are strong but tense, and I try to rub them as he keeps kissing me. His lips move fervently, like he's begging for something, like he's praying, and he's churning up a storm with in me. I think to ask him if he's alright, but the question gets lost within me as I quiver with desire and feel the lightning break across my skin, the clouds gathering within me.

I pull at his shirt, which gets caught on his arms, and we both laugh as I struggle to pull it off of him. I have to pull myself up to get it off him.

"There, that's better," I say, victoriously now that I've defeated his shirt. He wraps me into a hug and holds me. I grab him and kiss his shoulder and run my hands across his back; I'm reminded of his tension and my question. But it feels good to have his strong arms around me, and safe. And I like feeling my breasts pushed up against him, I like feeling my skin against his skin, touching his muscles, feeling them flex and stretch. I wonder if he feels as good as I do. "Do you like this?"

He laughs and mumbles a yes into my hair as his hands explore the curve of my waist.

"Why?" I say without thinking.

He pulls himself aways and holds my face and kisses me on the forehead. "Why do I like this?"

"Yeah," I ask, letting my finger slide down the crease in his chest made by his strong muscles. My eyes follow it down to his belly button and I hook it in the top of his pants.

"Don't you like it?"

"Yes, but that isn't any answer," I tug at the top of his pants now, playfully, as if demanding an answer.

"Okay," he says, grabbing me and lying me down on my back and climbing over me. He holds both my breasts in his hands and kisses each one sweetly. "Well, for starters, boobs are great."

I have to catch my own laughter and stop myself from laughing too loudly. I don't know why, but something about Gale saying _boobs_ is funny. As is they effect they seem to have on him. "You're boobs especially," he says, laying more kisses on them.

"But why?"

"Well," he places his hands on them like he's actually trying to figure it out. I watch him grin ecstatically as he jiggles one, like it brings him the great joy in the world, and holds them both like he's measuring, calculating. He then pokes one and pulls my skin, making them move. I bite my lip as I watch him. "You know, I can't quite put it into words, but they're great. They're soft, they jiggle, they're yous." He looks up at me and smiles, quickly darting up to kiss my lips. He rests his palm on the curve of my cheek, "why do you ask?"

"I don't know," I say honestly, "I'm just curious, I guess." I take a moment and try to figure out what I want to know, "how did you know you'd like this?" He looks at me strangely. "Like, how did you know you liked boobs?" He laughs softly.

I entwine one of my hands in his and pull him towards me. He squeezes me tightly and rubs my head. I listen to his heart pound as he thinks. "I don't know, I guess, one day I remember noticing them, and then I couldn't stop noticing them. They were everywhere."

"Do you remember whose you noticed first?"

Gale doesn't even need a moment to think. "Miss Smithy."

"The fifth grade teacher?"

"Yep," Gale's lips pop as he says this, and to me it sounds like sweet remembrance. "In the spring, one day she was where a white blouse, and the light was hitting her just right, and I remember realizing _she had boobs_ under that shirt. My whole world changed."

I nod my head against his chest. "Hmm, okay," I say as I take it all in.

Gale and I never talked about romantic things before, never kissing or crushes. I knew what all the girls at school said about him, but I never knew what the thought about any of them, or what he did with any of them. Suddenly, I'm curious who he's kissed before. Whose breasts he's kissed before...

"What about you?" he says, perhaps trying to stave off my silence, perhaps knowing where my mind is going.

I look up at him, shrug, and say offhandedly, "I never thought about it before. But then, when they made me kiss Peeta in the arena, I thought of you."

I see something move in Gale's eyes, like both a light and a shadow flashing past a window. It's gone before I can make it out. _Was that the look of love? Guilt? Regret?_

He pulls me close to him and kisses me both more deeply and more softly than he's ever kissed me before. "God, I love you," he says, holding my face and kissing me again. I get the feeling I've said something incredibly meaningful, though I'm not sure why.

"That matters to you, doesn't it?" I ask.

"More than you know."

His kisses are wet and warm and perfect, and suddenly, I'm only curious about how he'll kiss me, and where, and when, and I want him to move his mouth all over me at once. I twist my legs tightly with his, pulling him close to me, running my hands across his shoulders and back and down. I let them flit under the waist of his pants, and I find myself wondering how far down I should let him go, and what squeezing his butt would feel like, how soft the skin would be, how tight the muscles there.

I trail kissed along his jaw and up to his ear, remembering how he moaned the night before when I did this, and to my delight, and probably his, he moans again as I slide my tongue across his lobe and softly suck it in and flick it once or twice before I let it go.

"Oh, Kantiss…"

Not that I ever doubted it, but in that moment, I know-Gale's mine, and I am his. Everything else is unthinkable.

I smile as I feel his body tense and quiver over me, reaching up to nip his ear once more before burying my face in his neck and letting my lips wander all the way down to his chest.

He moans my name again, his hot breath and hands all over my body, and I can almost feel my skin rising to meet him, my nerves jumping like they feel somehow too much and not enough. I begin to frantically move my lips across him, wanting to take him all in at once, loving his touch, his taste, his feel. My lips cross the curve of his shoulder, the crease that carves out his pecs, and I stop to stuck on him, momentarily, wondering if it draws the same pleasure in him as it did in me.

Gale's hands hold me, and I feel like they're the only things keeping me together. They brush gently against my sides, causing flickers of sensation to flash across my skin and spread to the small fires started by this lips. As he moves me more and more, I lose track of my thoughts as words slip away from me and I slip into him.

I wrap my legs more tightly around him, bringing him down closer to me, pressing to me, tighter, more completely, as if any space between us were somehow harmful, hurtful.

No longer taking the time to think, I let my hands slide down to his ass now, I let them squeeze it and love it how it feels, perhaps the way he first felt with my breasts.

He moans again a sound that's made all of tongue and teeth and I love it.

I find my hands constantly catching at the waist of his pants, and I wish he could slide out of them as easily as my breath is sliding out of me, quick and uncaught. And as I play with the edge of his hip bones, I know we're playing with the edge of something else.

"Katniss..." he purrs again, and I think he must like my playing with his hip bone too, I reach back tracing its line, "oh, Katniss, careful…" He pulls himself away.

"Did I hurt you?" I ask, afraid.

He must see the look of concern cross my face because quickly cups my face and says, "No," he almost laughs, "it's alright, I just need a moment." He moves again and takes a deep breath.

My eyes search him trying to understand and only vaguely doing so because I don't want this to stop. Luckily, it doesn't.

After a moment, Gale pulls himself up a bit, and leans down, so he can kiss my breasts and my ribs and my stomach, he keeps going lower and lower and I don't want him to stop.

He apparently find himself in the same predicament I did, as he stops at the top of my pants.

"Take them off," I both think and say, and I'm so desperate, my hands collide with his as I move them down to help him. I hear him laugh softly over my heavy breaths, and I lift my hips up to help him throw them off.

Gale's sitting on his knees and he slides his hands over the smooth skin of my legs. His fingers almost feel cold compared to the heat that I know much be rising off of me. He touch is careful and delicate, but as his finger run up me, it's is almost like the strike of a match, and I can feel the rush.

I bite my lip and turn my head and he leans down and kissed me. First my knees and then the tops of my thighs and then the insides of my thighs, and I'm both excited by and afraid of how close he is to me. When I feel his lips rise and his hands slide up to my hips ,playing with the edges of my underwear, I look up at him.

He's still staring at me, eyes running up and down my body, taking me all in, I guess, the way he takes in the horizon, the way he's somehow able to always see every bit of everything. Most people can't do that. They can only handle little pieces, tiny parts, either the bits that are good or the bits that are bad, and they wall themselves up in those small worlds. But not Gale. His eyes are always open, swallowing the whole world, and I think he's doing the same to me now.

"Gale," I call his name, but I'm not sure he's listening. "Gale?" he looks at me now, but I realize I don't know what to say. I don't know what I want or what I thinking. "Where'd you go?" I ask.

He blinks as if calming himself. "Nowhere," he says softly, hands caressing me, "I'm right here."

"Then what are you thinking about?"

"You're so beautiful," he tells me, bring his face back down and laying it on my stomach.

"That sounds like a lie," I laugh, not meaning it harshly.

"Okay," he smiles, "I was thinking your body is beautiful." I tug at his hair playfully, knowing that's not the full answer. He chuckles, "and what I want to do to it," he finally admits, flicking one of my nipples.

"Oh?"

"Katniss," he says a bit more seriously, looking up at me again with eyes as wide as an ocean.

"What?" I'm worried, not sure what he's about to say.

He touches me sweetly and kisses me even more sweetly. "I just want to hold you."

And I remember that's the first thing he said when he saw me this night.

"Is that all?" I try and echo the playful tone I used earlier.

He entwines his fingers with mine and kisses my hand. "I want you to be happy," he says, and I don't doubt for a second that he's sincere. And I also don't doubt for a second that he knows as well as I do how nearly impossible that is.

I start to wonder if giving myself to him will make this better or worse. I start to wonder if giving myself to him is something I'm doing for his sake or mine, and I know he's following my thoughts as I search them. He hold me tighter and kisses me sweetly, kisses me wholly, trying to contain me, as if he could make me whole and healthy and his.

I think, _can he? can he?_

For his sake, I hope he can. But I don't know. I don't know.

. . .

I fall asleep in his arms, feeling his hot breath on me, his warmth holding me, keeping me together, his body against mine, but every other part of him mine, supporting mine.

And I don't know if I can handle that, if I can be worth that, if I can earn that...

. . . .


	4. Flare

Flare

. . . .

Gale is lying on top of me, my legs wrapped around his, and he nuzzles my breast with his face and takes my fingers in his mouth, sucking on each one softly, igniting a spark that turns to a flame and runs through me.

_Oh god,_ I think as my head rolls back and I lose sight. All my senses crash into one and even though my eyes are closed, I think I can see and feel Gale's kisses, colors bursting like fireworks that escape my mouth and breaking before me each time he touches me. "Oh, god, Gale," I try to say this time, willing myself to look up at him even though my head feels heavy and my eyes don't want to open, not wanting the show of pleasure to end. I force myself up though and look at Gale, who's still lavishing my body, and I can almost see my skin shatter and crackle each time he kisses me, my nerves electric. "Gale," I say again and he looks up at me, flashing a smile, knowing the effect he has on me. There's something about that smile, I think before another wave of pleasure washes over me.

"Do you like this?" he asks me, kissing my hand again.

_Yes_ I say, though not so much in words.

"Do you know what that means?" his voice is almost teasing.

I look down at him as his tongue twists around one of my fingers. I'm thinking about other parts of my body I'd like that tongue to twist around and don't answer.

"It means," he says, almost wickedly, "that this is one more thing that they can use against you...one more thing you can lose."

I pull away, horrified, and look at him as he breaks into cruel laughter. I see what's wrong with his smile now-his teeth are pointed into fangs, and he lunges at me, grabbing my fingers again into another kiss that's more like a bite. I feel his teeth snag into me and pull away. I look terrified as I watch my skin fall away from me, as if it were a glove.

"Gale," I try to say, not understanding, and kicking to get away, I look for him, knowing whatever is before me can't be him.

The monster before me keeps grabbing for me, snarling, trying to bite and tear away my skin. _It's a mutt!_ I realize, and kick and scream, feeling pain as I see my skin shred. "No! Gale! No!" _Where is he? What have they done to him?_

"Katniss," it laughs wickedly, and I realize the Capitol must have gotten Gale, must have gotten him because of me, and turned him into this, or this into him.

"No," I sob, kicking again to get away, "No!"

"Katniss!"

"No, please, don't, don't hurt me, please! What did you do to Gale?!"

"Katniss," Gale grabs my face, I see the flash of monster in his eyes. I push away and fall to the floor, but he's on top of me, attacking me.

"No! No, stop, please, Gale!"

"Katniss!"

The voice sounds different this time.

"Katniss, hey, it's okay, Katniss!"

I clinch my eyes and am afraid to open them.

"Hey, hey, it's okay."

That voice doesn't sound like it's going to hurt me. I open my eyes and am on the floor, tangled in my bed sheet. Gale's next to me, looking completely concerned.

"Hey, it's okay, you were having a nightmare." He reaches out to me but I involuntarily shudder, pulling away. He looks more alarmed, but the dream rushes back to me.

"No, no," I whimper. "Don't hurt me…"

"I won't, hey, Catnip, it's me. I'll never hurt you."

I slowly come back to myself, realizing what the dream meant. "You can't promise that!"

"Hey, hey," he's crouching down next to me, uncertain if he should reach out.

"Gale…" I start to cry.

He tentatively puts his arms around me, pulling me into his lap. "It's okay…"

"No it's not," I sob, finally giving into him. I wrap my arms around him and bury my face in his chest as I cry. I shake and shiver as I remember everything that happened, "they could hurt you," I finally say. "They're going to hurt you."

He takes my face and guides it up to him, "No they won't," he says shushingly.

"Yes, Gale, they will. You don't understand…"

His hands run up and down my back, in a steady rhythm, trying to stir confidence in me, security.

"I can't protect you…"

"You don't have to, come here," he takes me in his arms, pulling me on his lap and I feel all his strength around me. I think it might be the only thing keeping me together. I'm afraid that if he lets go, I'll unhinge. But that's not enough of a reason to keep him around.

"You need to get away from me," I say into his skin, shuddering, "I'll get you killed…if anyone finds out…" I choke on my sobs.

"Katniss," he tucks his finger under my chin and tilts up so I meet his eyes. He takes a deep breath, sucking in all the things he wants to say but can't—that it'll all be okay, that I don't have to be afraid, that I don't have to worry. But he can't say those things because it'd be a lie. And Gale never lies to me. "I love you," he says, leaning his head against mine, "and I'm not leaving you. You just tell me what you need," he kisses me softly, "and I'll do it."

"You should leave," I say, turning away head away, not able to say it while looking at him. "You'd be better off without me."

I hear something shake in his chest, it's not quite a laugh, but it's rattling, maybe a breaking. He forces my chin back up, making me look at him this time. "You think I'd be better off without you?" He asks it as if I'm crazy.

"Yes," I say so quickly and honestly that it's like I've shot him. "How can you not see that? If it weren't for me, you'd be safe…"

"Safe? From what? Hunger? The mines? The peacekeepers?"

"You'd be safer," I insist. "And you could be with someone better…"

"Better?" he is laughing slightly now.

"Yes," I say as if it were obvious. "You can have any girl you want…"

"I want you!"

"You deserve a girl who can be with you…"

"Do you want to be with me, Katniss?" there's a serious edge in his voice.

"That's not the point," I try to look away.

"Then what is?"

"You deserve better."

"Better than you?"

"Yes!" _He could do so much better, how can he not see that?_ "A girl can who can't sleep next to you without having nightmares, are girl who can sleep with you the way you want her to…"

"Is that what you're worried about? Sex? Katniss, I don't want to have sex with you—"

"Yes you do!" I say it as if I'm accusing him of something more awful.

He takes a deep breath and prepares himself, "I don't want to sleep with you if you don't want me to, Katniss, I'd never want that. If what we're doing is making you uncomfortable—"

"No! I like what we're doing." It's true, and I don't want him to think I don't. "But Gale, I love you, and I should be thinking about protecting you not putting you in more danger." Tears are spilling over my eyes now. "You'd be so much freer if it weren't for me. You wouldn't have to look out for me, or my family…"

"Katniss, do you think you're a burden?"

The words don't leave my lips, but they don't need to. Gale knows I mean: _yes._

"Katniss, my love for you isn't a burden. It's not a chore or a task. It doesn't hurt me or make my life harder. It makes it better. It makes me better. Katniss," he takes my hand in his and raises it to my lips, "it's a gift," he says, kissing me softly.

I look at him like he's said something scary. I've never thought of love this way before. To me, loving meant taking care of others, putting their needs before my own, and doing whatever I needed to to protect them. Like volunteering for Prim.

"You in my life, in any way you can be in it, in any way you want to be in it, is a million times better than a life without you. I love you, Katniss," he kisses my hand more fully this time, more tenderly, "and I don't love you because I want to have sex with you, or because you make my life simpler or easier—"

"Don't you want an easier life?"

He looks at me and laughs slightly, "Nah, that'd just be boring."

I'm only aware after the fact that a faint smile is flickering on my lips.

"You make my life better, Katniss," he says and I can feel his hot breath flush over me, "you make it everything." Gale leans in kisses them, very softly, very sweetly, but his lips are also warm and wet and I want them so badly. I wrestle with my impulse to protect him and my desire to hold him.

"You make my life better too," I say, perhaps a bit weakly, and he laughs again. I think he knows as much as I do that that is an understatement me for what Gale does for me. "I do love you."

"I love you too."

"But I can't…" I'm not ever sure what I want to say, what I'm thinking.

"You don't have to." He kisses me again, very softly.

"Hold me," I say, because that's all I want even if I shouldn't.

He wraps his arms around me even tighter, tucking my head beneath his chin and kissing me softly. "Of course."

_This feels so right,_ I think as I press my head into his chest and fall asleep listening to his heart.

. . .

The next day, Gale's absence is palpable. It's not that I miss him but that he's missing, like he's suddenly become a part of me and now something is gone that shouldn't be—like a fresh gap from a newly lost tooth that my tongue finds, unaccustomed to the space, having never felt it before, and knowing instinctively that it shouldn't be empty.

I can't even stay in bed because it reminds me too much of him, because I think now that he should be in there with me, that I need his arms more than I need the pillows or sheets.

The midmorning light is too cruel, illuminating all that isn't there—his face isn't here, his arms, his shoulders, his laugh, his kisses. It's almost boasting, as if it had a point to prove.

I won't have it. I throw myself out of bed. I will not be defined by Gale's absence.

. .

I've decided to be empowered by my love for others, not afraid and constantly on guard, treating it like a chore.

I go downstairs and for the first time hope to see my mother and sister. I want to look at them from this new mindset. They're not there though, and I realize it's late in the day and that Prim is at school and my mother perhaps in town or making a house call.

I walk outside and look at Haymitch's house and even Peeta's. I raise my eyes up and think of not what I owe them for once, but what I feel about them.

I think I'll have to stand here for hours to figure either of them out.

I walk around town and force myself to face everything with new eyes, looking at the world like it's a _gift_ and not a _burden._

I'm not really sure it looks any different to me, to be honest, but it certainly feels less heavy.

.


	5. Sizzle

Sizzle

.

"How was your day today?" Gale asks me as he noiselessly enters my room and sits next to me, putting his arm around me. I lean into him and he kisses me on the forehead.

"It was okay," I say.

"Okay, hunh? That's an improvement, right?" He lets out a slight laugh I can tell he doesn't mean. He's worried.

"Yeah," I say with a small laugh. "I spent the whole day looking at things."

He turns me and gives me a slightly funny look.

"I was thinking about them too," I say, as if that explains things.

"Okay?" He seems slightly concerned, and I don't know if he meant that to sound like so much of a question.

The confusion he has wrinkles his brow. I think it's kind of cute. I turn and wrap my legs around him, pulling myself up on him a little bit and start playing with the buttons on his shirt.

"Do you really want me to explain it to you?" I say. He's about to say yes but I lean in and start kissing his neck, small at first. On at the crease of his jaw, one close to his chin. One by his collar bone. Then by his ear. I kiss him and kiss him again until he's finally able to say yes but for an entirely different reason.

. .

I don't know how much time passes, but Gale and I are clothesless except for our underwear, and he's on his knees leaning his hair in my hand almost guiding him and he kisses my inner thigh, his lips getting close to mine.

"Gale," he's name comes out like a gasp as my eyes roll into my head as my nerves whirl away from me. "Gale," I say like I want something, as he's getting closer and closer to me, and I think I want him to keep coming closer. I'm spinning now, trying desperately to hold on to myself, to hold on to him, to hold on to this moment, and almost certain I'm about to fly away. At first, all I want to do is let go and get flung out into where ever this feeling will take me. I call Gale's name again and again, practically begging for this. But then suddenly, it occurs to me, that if I let go, I don't know where this will take me. I've never let go of anything in my life. I've always kept myself focused and on target. The thought scares me more than anything.

"Are you okay," Gale asks, perhaps having noticed some change in me. I can't explain it, so I don't try. I just take his chin in my hand and pull him up to me to kiss him.

We have to shift our legs a bit to get comfortable, but he's lying next to me, my arms around him, running my fingers up and down the muscles in his back, letting his lips draw me back into the bliss I felt before.

As he traces kisses across my collarbone, hand in my hair, holding my head, I can feel myself coming closer. But again, right after joy breaks within me, a way of nerves hits right after. I try to focus on the sound of his breath, and what part of his body I want to touch next.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He looks slightly concerned.

"Yeah," I say a bit more dismissively than I mean to, a bit more annoyed, "I'm fine. So quit asking." I reach for him again and kiss him.

He wraps a strong out around me and breaths, "okay," his hot breath hitting my neck and stirring want inside me again. I'm ready to crawl back in, and I shift myself next to him, wrapping my leg around one of his and pulling myself up to kiss, and as I do, my body presses against him, and by him, I mean him. And he's hard, and I suddenly can't avoid the implications of that, it scares me.

I jerk away.

"Katniss—"

"Sorry," I say, realize how crazy I must seem.

"You don't have to apologize," he soothes, "but you need to tell me if something's wrong."

"Nothing," I try to deflect. But I can tell I'm not fooling him. His brows knit together the way they do when they're trying to figure something out. "I know, it's just," his looks at me like he doesn't understand at all and I feel bad because I like this so much, I just am nervous about doing something I've never done before, and not knowing how exactly to do it, or what leads up to it, and I want to say this all as quickly as possible because I can see Gale's mind at work, trying to figure me out, so I want to get to the point. "It's just, your penis."

Perhaps I should have used a few more words to explain.

He's not sure if he should laugh or panic. "What?"

"I'm sorry," I look away and can feel myself blushing. "I just, I felt it, and it scared me because sex scares me, and it made me think of sex."

"You're afraid of sex?"

"Yes."

"God, Katniss!" He's alarmed and I don't mean for him to be.

"No," Gale, I almost laugh and he looks at me strangely. "It's not you. It's just…me." I wish I had a better way of explaining all that.

"Katniss," there's a strange gravity in his voice that I don't quite understand. I can tell I haven't done a very good job explaining this. I can almost hear his mind working.

"It doesn't scare you?" I look up at him.

"No," he says, quickly, but I can tell his mind is still elsewhere.

"Maybe fears not the right word," I try to explain better. "Nervous?"

"Is it because you're uncertain? Or has something happened?"

"No," I say quickly this time, and he smiles. "I really like this, I really like you, but I'm afraid."

"Afraid?" I can tell he's concerned. "Katniss, you know I'd never do—"

"No," I almost laugh as the idea of this is so preposterous; Gale's the one thing in the world I don't think I could ever be afraid of. I lean in quickly and kiss away his worry, taking his face fully in my hands and pressing my lips to his. "I know, trust me." I smile and he returns it. "And," I add trying to make this better, "I mean. I'm also curious about it. And I'm also excited by it," I quickly counter, not wanting him to freak. "Look, I've just never done this before. I'm having lots of emotions right now. And I'm not sure what to do about it."

"Okay," he says after a few moments of recovering himself, still uncertain about what to say. I suddenly feel bad about that. He shouldn't have to say anything.

"I'm sorry, Gale, I'm just need to stop thinking about this." I lean in to kiss him again, wanting his hands all over me, to hold me and stop the thoughts flying around my head. He pulls himself off of me to lie down next to me. He turns so we're facing each other and can see he's not letting this go. "I don't know what else you want me to say." I say with a bit of temper.

"Just talk to me about how you're feeling," he says taking my hand softly.

I huff and look at him, trying to gauge my chances of avoiding this conversation. I can see I can't.

"I like this," I look up at him, trying to communicate that it's true. I can tell he believes me. He doesn't say anything, but his eyes ask for more. "I like it a lot. And I want more of it…" His eyes stay steady, taking it all in, just like he did when he got me to talk about the Games. I remind myself how well that worked and try to let go. "But when I start to think about wanting more, that eventually leads to sex. And then that's scary because I don't know what that's like, and then I try to think about that, and then I get all nervous because I don't know where the line is."

"Katniss," he says with a strange urgency, "the line is wherever you want it to be."

I take a few moments to consider this. "But how am I supposed to know where that is?"

Gale exhales heavily as he thinks that through. I guess knowing where to put that line has never been a problem for him.

"I've never done it before." Gale and I haven't talked about our pasts yet, though, I'm assuming he knows this, but as we get closer and closer to one another, I want to make sure he knows this for sure. "So," I turn my eyes away from him, "I don't know what to expect, and I guess, that's scary."

I can hear him intake a deep breath and he nods, understanding, or at least trying to. I mean to give him a minute to make sense of this.

"I mean, it is scary, right? It's terrifying to not know what is going to happen or how it's going to feel, or what it's going to mean, or what it's going to change…" I hadn't even realized I was thinking those things until I just said them, and now I don't want to think about them, I don't want to think about them at all. I'm babbling, I know I'm babbling, and I don't know what I'm saying, so I know I should stop. "Can you just...can you just tell me what it's like?"

I turn over and look him in the eyes. He takes a deep, thoughtful breath. "Katniss—"

"Don't worry, Gale," I say, trying to fend off his nerves or embarrassment or whatever. "I heard all the gossip at school, and I'm not entirely oblivious to how handsome you are," he chuckles slightly as I say that, "I know you've had a lot of girls."

His brows furrow again. "That depends what you mean by had."

I exhale a bit frustratedly. He doesn't have to go into technicalities with me. Not when we're laying in by practically naked together.

"Katniss, I've never had sex."

I hear the words before I comprehend them. "What?"

He laughs a bit sheepishly. "Yeah. I've never actually done it."

"What do you mean by actually?"

"I mean, I've done just about everything else. But I've never slept with anyone."

"But what about all the girls you took to the slag heap?"

He rubs his face and takes another breath. "I never slept with them."

"Seriously?" I'm incredulous. "None of them?"

He frowns. "There weren't that many. And yeah. I'm not saying I didn't come close a few times. But I never did. I wasn't going to risk getting some girl pregnant, especially while I was still of the reaping age."

"But you'll risk getting me pregnant?"

"I don't think I just said that."

"So you don't want to have sex with me?"

"I don't think I just said that either." He doesn't sound annoyed, but I know he is. He shifts his weight in bed slightly and reaches out for me, but I pull away.

I'm not even sure what I'm thinking. But for some reason, my mind is spinning. For some reason, I was comforted by the fact that Gale knew what he was doing...and now that he doesn't. And that terrifies me.

"So neither of us knows what we're doing?"

"Katniss," he's using the voice he does when he's trying to stay calm rather than naturally doing so. I can tell. "I don't even know what you mean by that."

"What do you mean you don't know what I mean?"

"Do you even know what you mean?" he looks at me pointedly, and this upsets me more. I sit up and pull away. He follows my movements wraps his arms around me as he pulls me into his chest. "What's bothering you, Catnip? Because if I didn't know better, you seem almost upset I haven't slept with anybody."

"Well, it sounds ridiculous when you say it like that."

He rubs my arms and says, "Mmmhmmm."

I exhale and try to sort out all my thoughts. But as I do, all I'm thinking about is how good it feels. "That feels good."

He mumbles comprehension again and leans in to kiss me. I take his hands in my and hold them before me. I stare into them not knowing what I expect to find.

"You're hands are rougher," I finally say.

"Yeah," he shrugs it off, "the mines."

I can only nod my acknowledge.

"Let's get some sleep," he finally says when I don't talk for a few moments, "But let's talk more tomorrow, okay?" He brings me into and I can feel his lips through my hair as we settle down on my mattress.

. . .

Gale comes to my house late the next night, noiselessly coming into my room well after dark.

"I almost thought you weren't coming," I say a bit more spitefully than I mean to. My mind had been running with worry for the past few hours.

"I'm sorry," he says, tilting his head to mine. I can smell the coal and sweat on him. He didn't shower. "They made us work an extra hour, bumped up the quota," he yawns absent mindly before leaning into kiss me. I kiss him back, but can feel his lips are dry and the dirt in his hair. "And then I had to help my mom…" He yawns again.

"Did you eat?" I ask, suddenly worried.

"I think so," he says. "God, I missed you." He looks at me with a renewed focus and kisses me.

I never wondered before about what Gale thought about all day while working in the mines. But the way he's kissing me now gives me some idea.

I kiss him softly and deeply before getting up and taking his hand in mine. "Come here," I say.

His eyebrow arches curiously. I flash a smile, and guess I managed the perfect bit of mischievousness because Gale's eyes flash and he suddenly seems to have found energy.

I take his hand softly and lead it to the bathroom across from my bedroom door. He doesn't say a word until I pull him inside and flip on the lights.

Since I've only seen Gale mostly in the shadows these past few nights, I'm a bit shocked at how worn he's looking. The circles under his eyes, the color of his skin. "Oh, Gale…"

"I'm fine, Catnip," he says a bit dismissively, registering the look on my face. "Plus, I wanted to talk about you tonight."

I take his hands in mine and examine his dirty nails and torn knuckles. I bring one to my mouth and kiss it. I spent the whole day thinking about what I wanted to say to him; suddenly, none of it seems to matter.

I go over to the tub, put in the stopper and switch on the tap. Hot water is puring out in an instant. Gale seems to notice, this is not a feature they have in the Seam, and says "nice."

"Mmmmhmmm," I mumble as I lead him over to the tub. I start to pull of his shirt, and he helps me get it off his head, though I notice him pause, muscles probably aching as he does so. I realize his back must be so sore.

I next move to unbuckle his his belt, slowly pulling it out of its loops as my fingers trail along his waist line with it. Gale just stands and seems to savor the moment, but when I reach for his zipper, he stops me.

"Katniss," his eyes look as heavy as lead.

"It's fine, Gale," I say, looking up with a smile, "I know what I'm doing."

"But," he seems to struggle to say.

"Are you going to make me take off all my clothes first?" I add playfully, my fingers dancing around his navel and dipping tugging at the top of his pants.

He looks at me deeply for a moment, I'm sure trying to gauge my comfort level or emotional state. I guess he decides to believe me. "Well," he says with a small chuckle, "if you're offering…"

If he had any doubt about comfort, I discard it as quickly as I do my clothes, pulling of my shirt and underwear in quick succession.

I see some sizzle in his eyes and he's moving towards me before he even realizes it.

"Hey," I say, raising a playful finger. "Now it's your turn."

He nearly trips over himself getting his pants off. I bury my lips in my palm to hid my smile.

We study each other, completely naked for a few moments, and then I finally say, "Alright, come here." I walk towards him but not into him and take his hand, leading him to the tub.

"Are you going to bathe me?" He says in a tone that's somewhere between a joke and a grunt of disbelief.

"Yes," I say matter-of-factly.

"Why?" He asks as if the notion were preposterous.

"Because," I say as I sit on the edge of the tub behind him, bringing his shoulders against my knees, and leaning in close to his ear, "you need a bath." I can almost feel his skin rising to me as I say it and he laughs. I take a bar of soap and begin to lather, running my hands up and down his shoulders, his arms, his back. He closes his eyes and sinks into me, into the moment. I think we're both happy. I'm not sure if there's a word to describe the sounds he's releasing, but that certain note of contentment and satisfaction in them all.

When I finish his back, having rubbed it too, I move to the front, and he opens his eyes just slightly as I do, I'm sure to appreciate the view, and continues to let me bathe him. After I finish washing the suds from his hair, I lower myself in the tub in front of him, letting my legs slide up over his and around his waist. He trails his fingers up and down them, and exhales again. "So talk to me, Katniss," he finally says. I don't know where he found the energy to use his voice. "I want continue our conversation."

"Tomorrow, Gale," I say, not wanting to disturb the moment he so greatly deserves. "Tomorrow."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: And, just one final questions, should any one be interested in commenting on how they imagine Gale's sexual history, I'd be greatly interested in hearing your thoughts. I go back and forth deciding how much sex and what sexual stuff he's actually done, and while I know he's a very good looking teenage boy, he's also responsible and lives in a place where life is very hard. I'm really not sure what is best or right or whatever, so if anyone has any thoughts, I'd love to hear them.
> 
> Thanks for reading! CG


	6. Smolder

Smolder

. . . . .

Gale's gone when I wake up, and I vaguely recall him saying good bye and kissing me, though I must have been mostly asleep when it happened.

The sun is high in the sky now, and I stretch lazily as I get out of bed. I've almost made it to my door when I realize I'm clothesless. Memories of the night suddenly come flooding back to me: falling asleep in his arms, how he carried me to the bedroom, wrapping my legs around him in the tub, seeing each other naked before we got in…

Gale and I saw each other completely naked last night. I have to sit back down on my bed to process the thought.

I'd never seen a naked man before, I don't even think I'd ever really thought of it, but now that I have, I can't get the image out of my mind.

_I've seen Gale...All of Gale...He looks...amazing...And he's seen all of me._

I instinctively pull my arms across my chest to hide myself even though no one is around to see me now. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I feel a smile break across my flushed cheeks as I remember his sharply defined muscles. I'd seen Gale shirtless a few times before, but I think he's put on more muscle working in the mines. I feel guilty for a second, realizing I'm reveling in the hard labors he's forced into, and I'm not sure if it's the shame I'm feeling or excitement that's beginning to burn within me.

I grab my shirt and pajama pants of my floor and throw them on before going downstairs. Images of Gale are playing before my mind: the slope of his shoulders, the hard line running down his chest, the shape of his abs, the curve of his hip bone… I never thought hip bones could be attractive, but I feel something rise within me as I remember tracing my finger along their edge, wanting to dip it deeper into their shadow, and I reach out slightly, remembering their curve when I practically run into my mother.

"Katniss," she says, jumping back a bit.

I have to take a deep breath and shake my head to reclaim the moment. "Oh...Hey...Sorry…"

"It's okay dear," she says as she looks me up and down. "I didn't hear you coming."

"Oh...ahh…" I stammer, looking for something to say as the image of Gale fades from my mind.

"Are you okay?" My mom asks, suddenly raising her hand to my forehead, "you seem flushed."

"Um, yeah," I say, suddenly recovering myself, "I'm fine, I'm just…"

I don't know what I am, and leave the sentence hanging. My mother looks me up and down, and I hope I'm not being transparent.

"I'm just about to go out to the woods," I say, turning to walk away and trying to appear nonchalant.

"In your pajamas?" she asks, luckily, before I get to the door.

"No," I say after I put a bit of distance between us, like she's crazy, "I'm going to have breakfast first."  _Obviously._

I don't wait to see how she reacts before spinning into the kitchen, not that it matters much, I reassure myself. I've certainly done weirder things.

. . . .

My aim has never been so lousy. After missing several squirrels, I finally hit one and call it a day.

. . .

When I get home, I have dinner with my mother and Prim. It's less awkward than I feared, and it's good to spend some time with my sister again.

. .

As I wait for Gale, my mind turns from sizzling with excitement as I remember his touch to shriveling with nerves as the questions that I've been avoiding all day swarm me.

_Am I ready to sleep with Gale?_

_Technically, I've already slept with him._

_Am I ready to make love with Gale?_

_I certainly know I love him._

_Am I ready to have sex with Gale?_

_I do like everything we're already doing._

_And isn't sex better than that?_

_Isn't it? Isn't it?_

I don't actually know the answer to that and wish I hadn't slunk away whenever my classmates started to talk about it. Everyone always seemed so excited about it, and I remember Madge rushing from the lunch table to go hear her friend Lilah gossip about being with her boyfriend. "Do you want to come, Katniss?" She'd asked me, eyes dancing with some sort of light. I didn't understand much, but I knew by they way they said  _with_ that I didn't want to know more.

Now, I wish I'd went with them.

I'm able to convince myself that all their excitement and how good everything else feels,

_Then what are you so nervous about, Katniss?_

The question knocks me cold. I'm still trying to sort it out when I hear Gale come in.

"Hey," he say, his voice soft and sweet and deep, as he takes my face in his hands.

"Hey." I place mine over his and lean in to him. His kiss is soft and sweet and deep as well. "How was your day?"

He huffs, clearly not wanting to think about it.

"Is everything okay?"

"It is now," he says, kissing me again. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and our tongues entwine. My hands mess through his hair as his roam my back and eventually slide down to my waist. I feel his fingers flicker across my skin and building a flame within in me. I'm about to lie down on my bed and invite him on top of me when he pulls away, his lips leaving first and then his skin.

He looks me deep in the eyes and tucks my hair behind my ears.

"So, Catnip," he says, my eyes taking in his lips before my ears his words. He's crouching in front of me, his hands running up and down my arms. I link my fingers in his so he can't pull away. "Let's talk."

I huff a deep breath and look away. I'm still not sure what I want to talk about. "Would you believe me if I told you I don't want to talk?"

Gale laughs and leans in to kiss my forehead before taking a seat on my bed next to me. "Yes, but that doesn't mean we don't need to talk."

"What do you want to talk about?" I say, resigned.

"What you want."

I look at him accusingly. "Do you really think I know what I want?"

I hear laughter shake in his chest, and look up at him as he puts one of his strong arms around me. I hook my hand in his and he takes it up to his lips and kisses my fingers gently. I close my eyes and sigh.  _That feels so good._

I want him to continue, but he stops after he's placed a light kiss on each finger.

"What you want physically and emotionally..." he explains. The way his body moves, I know he's looking down at me, though I keep my eyes glued to our hands in my lap. "...from me."

"I don't know what you want me to say," I finally huff, getting a little annoyed because there are better things our lips could be doing.

"I need you to tell me what you like, and what you don't like," he says, scratching my scalp softly as I lean into him.

"I like everything we're doing," I respond, still not wanting to have this conversation,  _and I'd rather be doing that now,_ I think.

"But some things make you nervous," he says.

Technically, he's right, but since I haven't figured that out yet, I don't know what to say. "Yeah," I grumble.  _I don't know why he's insisting on focusing on the things I don't like when there are things I do like..._

He waits, clearly wanting me to expand, but I remain silent. I don't know what he expects from me, he's had more experience with this than I have, he knows what he's doing, he knows what he wants. I don't know what he thinks I can tell him.

"Katniss," he finally says, his voice careful and measured, "has it occurred to you that I might be nervous too?"

 _No, actually, it hasn't._ "What are you nervous about?" I ask, looking up at him.

"That I might make you uncomfortable or do something you don't like. That you won't tell me because you think you're doing what I want or that you owe me…"

It never occurred to me that that would bother him, and now I feel a little bit bad. "You're really worried about that?" I ask him.

"Of course I'm worried about that, Katniss." His words are rushed, sounding all the more urgent, more true.

I lean in and kiss him, deeply and fully on the mouth, pressing tightly against him and holding to him desperately. I, of course, know Gale loves me, but I need him to know how much he means to me, how much _this_ means to me. I don't think anyone in my life has ever worried about me like that. Not my mother, who, for all her flaws, probably loves me. But that love has never stopped her from letting me get hurt. And not Peeta, who definitely says he loves me, though its never made him stop and question what I want. What I might like...like Gale.

When I'm able to pull myself away, I tell him, "I love you," I say, and I struggle to keep my voice from breaking. "And I need you," I kiss him, messily this time, my mouth crashing into his, "and I want you," I say through another struggled breath. He wraps his arms around me, sensing my unease and giving me strength, stability. Someday, I'm going to have to ask him how he does this.

"Gale," I say, recovering myself, "I know you would do anything for me, but that doesn't mean you have to do everything for me, okay? I need you to trust me when it comes to us..."

As I look deep into his eyes as I twist myself in front of him, taking his hands in my face.

"I promise I'll tell you. You don't have to worry. You don't have to doubt or second guess me."

I see his eyes searching mine. They flinch at the words  _doubt_ and  _second guess._ He doesn't think that's what he's doing. He'd probably use the words  _protect_ and  _look out for. B_ ut since he doesn't' say anything, he knows he can't refute me.

"You do trust me, right?" My tone is playful now, and I lean in and kiss his cheek, his forehead, his neck, everywhere but his lips. "Because, you know, you shouldn't have sex with people you don't trust."

"Is that so?" Gale's body shakes with quiet laughter, and he scoops me with one of his strong arms and turns me beneath him. His actions aren't exactly forceful, but commanding, and in a kind of way that causes a rush of excitement to pulse through me.

I bite my lip as I look up at him, anticipation building about where he'll touch me, where I want him to.

"I trust you," he say, his dark eyes burning, and he leans in to kiss me. "I just don't want to hurt you," he says between another kiss.

"You won't," I tell him because it's true. Everything else in this world might, but I know he never will.


	7. Blaze

Blaze

.

My body is quivering like the light of a flame. And it's just about as hot too as Gale's warm, wet lips slide over the curve of my chin, and my nerves rush to him waiting for those lips' release.

After he'd insisted on talking about my needs, I insisted we talk about his as well. And as much as he didn't want to admit it, he couldn't deny that working all days in the mines and staying up half the nights in bed with me wasn't taking its toll on him.

We've since spent the past several nights just sleeping. He comes to my room as soft as a cloud, quietly stealing in, wrapping himself around me as I curl tightly to him, and we both fall asleep with his lips pressed on my forehead, my hands over his heart.

But tomorrow is Sunday, and Gale is not interested in rest.

We've both already long since lost our clothes, and Gale's holding me in his lap, running his strong arms up and down my back as my fingers tangle in his hair and he trails kisses down my neck and across my chest.

"Oh, god, Gale," I say as pleasure winds in my body, my skin uncontrollably rising towards him, like tides to the moon.

He chuckles softly as his kisses continue their waltz—down, over, across. A press of soft lips, a nip of teeth, a flick of tongue.

I can do nothing but moan his name and try to hold on.

Gale curves one arm around me and twirls me to lie on the bed. His hands slide down my sides, stopping to savor the curve of my hips, and running them up my knees.

"Katniss?"

"Hmm?" I mumble and nod, hardly able to look up at him. My skin is still sizzling, my eyes see nothing by stars.

"Do you want me to go down on you?"

"Mmm," I mumble and nod again, pressing my lips to my own hand, hardly comprehending.

Gale chuckles again and kisses the top of my knee. His lips start a whirlwind in my body, and I can feel it rustle through me. I reach out to try and grab his hand, wanting to bring him to me, but his fingers are savoring the smooth skin of my legs.

He wets one of his fingers and traces a delicate line from my waist to my knees. It feels almost cold and the contrast with my hot skin makes me shudder.

He leans down and kisses the top of my foot. Another sensual contrast is the rough stubble on his chin against my soft skin. It makes me tremble again, desire rushes through me again.

I just want Gale to hurry up and bring his lips to my.

My fingers twitch, hoping to find him, but he's still too far away. Gale's taking his time.

I cross my arms over my chest and try to keep myself together as Gale's kisses move their way up. They're again doing their waltz—down, over, across…press, nip, flick…lips, teeth, tongue…

He kisses the top of my foot, my outer ankle, my inner calf, the crest of my knee, the top of my thigh.

"Gale," I say weakly, hardly in control of my voice.

His hot breath not only hits me, but I feel like it fills me. A flame is suddenly racing through my body. It's not like anything I've felt before.

I tug on his hair, biting my own lip, and loving what he's doing to me. I just want more of him, and now.

I try to reach for him again when I realize he's not done. His kisses are getting hotter and heavier and closer to  _me_.

I grow dizzy as I anticipate where he'll kiss me next. I imagine his lips taking in the skin on my stomach, his tongue sliding along the curve of my hips...suddenly, it's as if he's kissing me in all those places, as if he's touching me everywhere.

But then, he kisses me the one place I don't expect.

"Gale, what are you doing?" I ask, my voice stern and commanding, shocked at what he just did and not understanding it.

"Katniss," he takes a moment to regain himself. I can almost see the thoughts shifting in his eyes. "I'm….what do you think I'm doing?"

As I try to figure out my answer, he understands that my silence serves as one. He smiles softly and pulls himself up to me.

I suddenly feel ridiculous; I bury myself into his arms and which he immediately wraps around me.

"Sorry," I mumble, not sure where my brain is.

"Don't be." He tenderly kisses the top of my head.

"I just...I thought you were…"

I hear a soft chuckle rattle in his chest. "I was."

I pull myself up and look at him pointedly, certain we're not talking about the same meaning.

"No Gale, I thought you were going to kiss  _me."_ I inflect my voice, trying to make my meaning clear and not sure what word I should use.

He stops himself from smiling and repeats, "I was."

My jaw drops. "But no, Gale…" I'm certain he's misunderstanding me. I try to think of the best way to explain this.

A trace of smile is hanging on his lips, and he's looking at me so intently, I realize we do mean the same thing.

"But why would you want to kiss me there?"

"Why wouldn't I?" he asks like it's the most natural thing in the world.

I realize I don't have an answer, but I'm certain there must be one. I can't imagine why he'd want to put his lips there.

"I like kissing you."

"But that's different," I insist.

"Why?" he asks. "Why is it different than me kissing you anywhere else?"

I realize I don't have an answer for this either.

"Katniss," he says, staring at me deeply, "believe me when I say I want to."

I nod even though I'm still don't understand.

"So the only question is," he asks, as he pulls himself out from under me and lets me slide back on to the bed. "Do you want me to?"

I'm inclined to say no, even though I don't know why. I certainly like it when he kisses me, so I suppose I'd like it if he kissed me there.

I remember his hot breath touching my soft skin there, and it's enough to set fire within me again.

Perhaps it isn't any different.

. .

It turns out, it's  _very_ different.

My eyes roll back in my head and all I see are stars. I think my body might be turning into light because everything shimmers. And shivers. And shines.

I feel myself grow and expand, as if I'm no longer rooted to my body, as if I'm out of my mind.

But at the same time, nothing I've ever felt has been so physical.

I feel myself growing smaller, as if Gale were tightening all the nerves in my body, boiling them down into one tiny drop, winding them into to one ball that when he kissed—

. . .

Gale pulls himself up next to me and I'm panting, trying to catch my breath, my thoughts, my voice, him. Trying to catch something that will bring me back to this world but also not sure if I want something to.

I don't know what's just happened to me, but my skin is sparking as my senses return to me, love-drunk and full.

I wrap my fingers in his and pull him on top of me, twining my legs with his and pulling him tightly to my chest, greedy for his skin and desperate to touch all of him.

Gale laughs and kisses me.

"Did you like that?"

I feel his hot breath on my neck and all my nerves flutter.

"Yes," I say, nodding and kissing him again as Gale moves to turn us, so he's pulling me to his chest.

I crawl on top of him, my hands hungry for his hot, hard body, and wanting to feel all of him as I take his lips in my mouth and return his loving kiss.

"That was really good," I repeat, my mind still unwrapping itself from the experience as I settle in the haze of pleasure that's around me.

. . . .

"Am I supposed to do the same to you now?" I ask when my thoughts have cleared and I become aware that couldn't have felt the same for him.

"You're supposed to do whatever you want," he tell me, his voice soft but lined with seriousness.

I crinkle my brow and question him, taking his hand in mine and pulling it up to my lips. I kiss him softly and then pinch a bit of his skin between my teeth.

"Oww," he says with a chuckle.

"Whatever I want, hunh?" I throw my leg over him and sit on top of him. His hands immediately run over the curve of waist, and I feel his thumbs pressing into my hip bones as his fingers softly graze my skin. "But what about what you want?"

I lean in to kiss him, scooting my body down slightly and pressing myself tightly to him.

"I have everything I want," he tells me between heated breaths.

"Everything?" I say with probing eyes as I softly take his face in my hands. I also scoot my hips down a bit lower, and I twist and press my skin to him.

His breath catches and I can feel him hardening.

A smile breaks across my lips as I see his reaction. "There's nothing more you want?"

"Ohh…Katniss…" he says in an uncertain tone. I know his self-control is fighting with his desires.

All Gale wants in the world is to take care of the ones he loves and make sure they're happy. Why doesn't he realize that those who love him might want the same? Why would he think I wouldn't want to give him the same pleasure he'd just given me?

"I want to, Gale," I say, pressing a kiss on his jaw line, his chest, he shoulder his cheek. My hair trails lightly across his skin as I move myself and I feel him shudder beneath me.

"I want to," I say again, my voice lower and more heated. I reach down to grab him, and as I take him into my hands his eyes shut and flutter.

I think the great Gale Hawthorne has finally lost his composure.

I study his face as I move my hands, listening to the shudders in his breath, watching his lips, imagining words pouring from them like  _yes_ and  _love_ and  _more._

And when they finally seem to be calling my name with a voice that's locked deep inside him, I lower my mouth and take him inside me, the way I've taken his breath, his tongue, his fingers, his name…

I'd heard girls talking about this at school before, and then, it'd seem like the strangest thing. I never would have imagined I'd want to do this, or why anyone would want to do this

I don't really know what I'm doing, but as strange and awkward as everything seems to me, it doesn't seem to be effecting him. I learn which way twirling my tongue makes him tremble, how working my lips makes him burn.

I've finally worked out a rhythm and am beginning to understand how this can be fun when he says my name with a strange urgency, making me stop.

"Oh, god," he says, as he takes himself in his own hand, turns to his side and comes.

I give him his space and a moment, remembering how my mind scattered in my own ecstasy.

I curl next to him and kiss his side and kiss his back and then his hip. I nuzzle myself closer and deeper after a few moments pass. All I want is for Gale to take me in his strong arms and hold me, having decided he's had enough time to collect himself and recover.

"Gale," I say, my voice somewhere between a plea and a whine.

He hooks one of his arms around me and kisses the top of my head.

"Sorry," he says in a rough voice, "I need to clean up…"

He's holding away his sticky hands, almost like they could hurt me, and I can see a flash of something in his eyes, like shame or concern.

But I don't care. So I push myself on to him with absolute disregard.

"But Katniss," he says, voice full of fret.

"What? Why does it matter?"

His eyes blink in his unanswer, and we both smile, realizing our reversal. It's usually me who's the one with worry, him telling me everything's okay.

He's muscles loosen as he gives himself permission not to care and takes in his arms.

"Don't worry about it," I tell him again, taking one of his hands in my own and giving him a kiss.

"I just didn't want to…"

"It's okay. My body can be messy too sometimes."

I hear a faint chuckle rattle in his chest and know he's back with me.

"I suppose that's true."

"It is," I assure him, "and it's less fun."

"Yeah, I just feel bad…"

"Well feel something else," I say, losing patience and demanding a deeper kiss. "We can clean up in the morning."

Gale doesn't say another word on the matter and we cling to each other for the rest of the night.

. . . . .

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I actually started writing this as what was supposed to be a smutty one-shot valentines piece, and this is what I ended up with. Please let me know what you think and if you'd like me to continue. I'm esp. concerned with they way I represent Katniss's character here. I worry I'm a bit to stuck on the devastated/detached MJ Katniss, and I'm not sure if I'm writing the pre-MJ Katniss well at all.


End file.
